WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa is known for its thousands of acres of fertile farmland that helps feed perhaps millions of people around the world, and a new report describes how valuable the agribusiness is to the state.
Brent Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, says the report only confirms what we already know, that farming is critical to our state’s economy and identity.
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When that $96.5 billion figure leaks out to Main Street and other industries, he says it will quickly more than double to nearly $222 billion. Even in recent years with the pandemic, agriculture has made steady gains, according to Johnson.
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A USDA study found that land use for agriculture fell 28 percent between 1948 and 2019, while land productivity increased nearly fourfold and labor productivity more than 10fold. Johnson says farmers are growing significantly more food on less land.
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Johnson, a fifth-generation farmer in Calhoun County, says the organization remains committed to finding ways to help farmers adapt and improve.
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The report shows that the US food and agriculture sector directly supports nearly 23 million jobs nationwide, provides $927 billion in wages and contributes over eight point six trillion to the US economy, a 22 percent increase since the 2019 report. The annual Feeding the Economy report is published by 25 food and agriculture groups. For the full report, go to: www.FeedingTheEconomy.com.
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